The ills of forest fragmentation include loss of wildlife and plant habitat, decrease in biodiversity, and loss of recreational opportunity. With all of the pressure weighing against it, fragmentation seems like a lost cause. However, policy makers and researchers have discovered some preventative measures that seem to lower the effects of fragmentation on our nation's land base. Land use planning is one of the main tools being suggested to help control forest fragmentation.
Source: Sustainable Forests Partnership

Forest fragmentation affects the common person in ways which might go unnoticed in day to day life but have a severe impact over a lifetime. Fragmentation is a result of a society which has no consideration for the next generation, but is centered on bigger and better development for the present. Land is a precious resource, one which cannot be re-created. With an expanding population, the demand on this land will continue to increase, however, it is up to us now to recognize its importance and contribution to our standard of living and preserve it as such.
Source: Sustainable Forests Partnership

The issues that we believe are most important for fish and wildlife are habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and degradation, the introduction of invasive species, mortality from construction and chemical exposure, disturbance from noise, construction, truck traffic, and lighting, and water associated impacts. This would include water use and withdrawal, change in surface water quality and quantity, surface flows, potential for spills and contamination of groundwater, and the proper treatment and disposal of drilling fluids, including water and associated drilling chemicals.
Source: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service - NY

Excerpt from:
HAZARDS POSED BY NATURAL GAS
DRILLING NOT ALWAYS UNDERGROUND 

by laura legere (staff writer)
TheTimes-Tribune.com
Published: June 21, 2010

Department of Environmental Protection files made available to The Times-Tribune through a Right-to-Know request reveal hundreds of examples of spills at natural gas drilling sites in the state during the last five years, recorded by at least 92 different drilling companies. The documents show that many of the largest operators in the Marcellus Shale have been issued violations for spills that reached waterways, leaking pits that harmed drinking water, or failed pipes that drained into farmers' fields, killing shrubs and trees.

After a Marcellus Shale hearing last week, DEP produced a list for state legislators of 421 violations found by inspectors at Marcellus Shale wells this year through June 4. At least 50 of the violations - recorded by 15 different Marcellus operators - involved a spill to soil or water. Generic descriptions used by the department to characterize the violations make it impossible to determine the exact number of spills.

"It goes from an accident to negligence," DEP Secretary John Hanger said at the hearing, and attributed the problems to "poor management" and "not proper oversight" by the companies. "This industry's got to look in the mirror," he said.